This weekend was the 59th anniversary of an event many people don’t know happened in South Carolina. On March 11, 1958, a nuclear bomb was accidentally dropped on a small community near Florence.

A U.S. Air Force Boeing Stratojet that was flying out of Hunter Air Force Base took off at about 4:30 p.m. headed for the United Kingdom and then on to Africa. The aircraft was carrying nuclear weapons as a precaution in case war broke out with the Soviet Union.

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The captain of the aircraft accidentally pulled an emergency release pin in response to a fault light in the cabin, and a Mark 4 nuclear bomb, weighing more than 7,000 pounds, dropped, forcing the bomb bay doors open. The bomb, which lacked an armed nuclear core, plunged 15,000 feet to the ground below.

Two sisters, 6 and 9 years old, and their 9-year old cousin, were playing in the woods, about 200 yards from a playhouse their father, who had been a World War II paratrooper, had built for them.

When the bomb hit, its 6,000 pounds of conventional explosives detonated, leaving a crater about 70 feet wide and 35 feet deep. The three children and the parents of the two sisters all suffered minor injuries in the explosion which damaged seven nearby buildings, including the home.

The family sued the U.S. Air Force and was awarded $54,000 in damages. The amount is equivalent to more than $448,000 in 2017.

The crater still exists, though it is overgrown with vegetation. There is a historic marker nearby, but the site is on private property.

Walter Gregg Sr., the WWII veteran whose property was hit by the bomb, died at his home in Florence in 2013. He was 92.